Over the course of this most current government shutdown, I've had the great pleasure of "meeting" a handful of passionate people in my fellow YNP gateway community of Cody, WY as well as getting to know a few neighbors right here in Gardiner a little bit better. Some of us may have differing political views and lifestyle ideas, but I've learned this week that at the end of the day our end goal is often the same - we are Americans, want to be proud to be so, and are frustrated by the feeling that this inalienable right is being taken from us one piece at a time. One of these new friends, Rick Satterthwaite of Cody, has been instrumental in the Protest for Yellowstone movement that is gaining steam in our area and penned the below letter to the elected officials of the United States government. Not to The House, The Senate or the Executive Branch, but to ALL of them. Whether you are left, right, moderate or out in the stands, Rick's letter is likely to ring true in more ways than you might think.
October 2013
To
the 537 leaders of the United States of America: The President, The
Vice President, The House of Representatives, and The Senate:
We
are tired; We the People….we are tired. The weariness that is
overtaking us feels like an invisible force wrapped around each one
of us individually, and yet all of us collectively at the same time.
It is the feeling that something familiar…something we trust…has
begun to weigh us down, tug at us and pull us apart, to look us in
the eye with assurance, while wrestling with us at every turn.
Wrestling, not as two playmates might; but as an adversary. That
adversary is you, 537 men and women we look to as leaders, as
familiar, trustworthy leaders.
We were a small group in the
wilderness, just in front of the gates of Yellowstone National Park.
What brought us there was the desire to gain access to our friend,
our park. However, what became obvious as We The People began to look
around was much greater than Yellowstone; if one could imagine that.
No, what was obvious was our weariness over you and your inability to
lead on behalf of us.
From where We The People stood that
day, in the wilderness, what we saw were men and women, 547 of you,
fighting for yourselves, for your own agendas, your own power, your
own egos…never truly thinking of We the People. We hear talk of not
wanting to give the Republicans too much…not wanting to give the
Democrats too much, never thinking that We The People are Republicans
and Democrats, independents and libertarians. What we hear is that
our democrat leaders do not want to give half of We The People too
much. Our republican leaders do not want to give half of We The
People too much. We are so weary of that!
John Kennedy once
said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic
answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for
the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
What happened to ideas like that? What happened to you as servants of
We The people that it has to be a democrat or republican answer. Do
you 537 not realize that those answers exclude half of We the People?
Do you not realize it is making We The People weary? You lead us from
one crisis to another; one cliff to another. You have become experts
at pitting We The People against ourselves in order to give some
portion of the 537 a victory, all the while making We The People more
tired…more weary.
No, as that small portion of We The People
gathered at the gates of Yellowstone, what we realized is that it is
your inability to lead that has made We The People weary. Please
stop! We are tired of fighting among ourselves; fighting in the way
you 537 do…how you 537 lead We The People. Stop looking for the
republican answer. Stop looking for the democrat answer. Look for the
right answer. Look for the answer that will relieve the weariness of
We The People.
Many of us, We The People, echo the prayer of
Admiral Black last week when he asked you 537 men and women to come
to grips with the shame you have caused in this great nation. Your
behavior is selfish and shameful to We The People and we simply ask
you to stop, look inward, and examine yourselves. Find a way to get
beyond your party affiliation and dogmatic policy stances and look at
us, We The People. Look from a position of humility, not power. Look
from a position of weakness, not strength. Join us at Yellowstone’s
gates and see We The People, not a voting-block, or district, or
constituency. No, try to see us, weary as we are and understand that
we deserve better than what you 537 are giving us. Stop tugging at
us, stop pulling us apart, stop doing all the things we try to teach
our children not to do and lead.
As We The People gather at
the gates of Yellowstone, we were denied entrance because you 537 men
and women shut down the government, our government. We stood there as
you were huddled in Washington DC. Here is a thought from We The
People that just might help you understand just how We The People are
feeling right now. Do your jobs and fund the government. Do what you
have to do to get past this latest crisis. Then shut it down again!
Shut down every office, every hall, and every meeting room and come
to Yellowstone. Come to the farmland of the Midwest. Come to the
sprawling cities of the eastern seaboard. Come to the oil patches of
the west and southwest. Come to the great forests of the Pacific
North West. Come to We The People and just sit with us.
But do
not go to your own districts, your own constituencies. Go where you
are not familiar and sit with someone you have never sat with. Don’t
take cameras and media people, just put on your jeans and come alone.
How can you lead all of We The People if you have only sat with half
of We The People? Imagine that! None of you 537 being lobbied,
arguing your point, pitting half of us against the other half. Just
take the fall and early winter off to sit with We The People and get
to know us. The reconvene after the holidays and lead us together in
the right way; the American way. What do you say? Meet us at the
gates of Yellowstone and let us just sit together as We The People.
Rick, you are a true credit to the people of the mountain West.
